Wednesday, May 17, 2006

PESHAWAR, Pakistan May 15, 2006 — Almost five years after being thrown out of power as a result of the U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan, the Taliban has gained sufficient strength in some remote parts of the country to resume public executions of people convicted of murder by pro-Taliban Islamic courts....

...This marks the first time after losing power in December 2001 that the Taliban has organized a public execution of a convicted killer. Ahmadi said it showed the level of Taliban control in the Urozgan and added that the Taliban had the power to arrest and try criminals and publicly implement decisions of its Islamic courts.

President Hamid Karzai's Afghan government and the U.S. and NATO military authorities refrained from commenting on the Taliban's claims. They neither confirmed nor denied the execution.